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The Latest News on the
Sprint Nextel Merge

The Sprint and Nextel merge is finally nearing completion. The union is expected to be finalized after pending lawsuits, brought by the carriers' affiliates, have been resolved.

The new telecommunications company, which will be called Sprint Nextel Corporation, jumped its final regulatory hurdle when both the FCC and the Department of Justice approved the merge on August 3rd, 2005.

Now comes the hard part ........

How will the two carriers combine their incompatible networks?

Short Term Solutions

As a short term solution, the two carriers have consulted with both Motorola and Qualcomm Inc. about designing a technology and handset that will combine both Sprint's CDMA, and Nextel's iDEN network.

If all works out, Motorola will design the dual mode handset, while the network's new service will be licensed through Qualcomm.

The technology, called QChat, is expected to allow Sprint a better push to talk (PTT) service, and give Nextel users a broader coverage area.

iDEN's future

Inevitably, Nextel's iDEN network will be discontinued. But, this will not happen until the completion of the company's next generation network, called CDMA EVDO.

According to a recent article in XChange.com, Qualcomm consultant, Bob Egan, forcasts the network changes to be in place somewhere "in 2007."

But, most analysts believe it will take longer. The CDMA EVDO technology is still in the development stage, and may take years to complete.

And, eliminating the iDEN network too early could spell disaster for the newly formed company.

Nextel has a loyal customer base, with the majority of them business users. The carrier also has the highest revenue per user, currently $69 per month, in the wireless industry.

Benefits of the New Company

In Sprint's recently released fact sheet, the carrier claims the merge will enable the newly formed Sprint Nextel company to:

  • Offer digital wireless service in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
  • Provide consumers more choice through investments in wireless multi-media, web browsing, messaging, gaming and music on the go.
  • Provide robust integrated wireless and IP-based wireline solutions to business.
  • Improve customer service and sales performance through joint capabilities.
  • Invest to deploy next-generation wireless data services, bringing new and compelling products to market to benefit consumers and businesses.

For more information on the merge, visit Sprint.com.